The music was commissioned for the movie Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing and initially included in the film's Oscar-winning score, composed and conducted by Alfred Newman. Lyrics were subsequently added to make it eligible for the Best Original Song category of the Academy Awards. The original lyrics were rejected by the studio so new ones were written.[2]

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A version by Don Cornell was recorded approximately at the same time. It was issued by Coral Records as catalog number 61467. Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1955[4] for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009.[5] The song has also been recorded by Ringo Starr (on his album Sentimental Journey),[6]Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Shirley Bassey, Nat King Cole and Barry Manilow. Neil Sedaka recorded the song in Italian as "L'Amore E' Una Cosa Meravigliosa". Connie Francis recorded the song in Italian in 1960 during the work for her album More Italian Favorites, although this version remains unreleased to this day. Francis also recorded the original English lyrics in 1961 for her album Connie Francis Sings 'Never on Sunday' and Other Title Songs from Motion Pictures. The instrumental playback of this 1961 recording was also used when Francis cut a German-language version, "Sag, weißt du denn, was Liebe ist", in 1966. The song was about that time also performed by Fairuz in Arabian language ("Zar Bisukun Al Lail"). A Disco version was recorded by Tina Charles in 1980. Jeff Lynne recorded his version for his nostalgic cover album Long Wave in 2012.